Small Business News -- March 1998
Prophet Zarquon
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SSSS BB BBBB HHH HH Vol. 23 No. 3
SSSSSSSSSS BBBBBBBBBB HHH HH March 1998
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SMALL BUSINESS HAWAII * Creating A Better Hawaii Through Private Enterprise
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Copyright 1998 * For personal use only. All rights reserved by SBH
Visit SBH's homepage on Hawaii's H4: http://hotspots.hawaii.com/sbh.html
>> LEGISLATURE NEAR HALF WAY MARK: NO RELIEF IN SIGHT
With the 19th State Legislature nearing the halfway mark of its annual
60-day Session (which is scheduled to conclude May 5), no major economic
reforms have been passed--or are on the fast track for passage. There is
no sense of urgency by lawmakers despite more small businesses going under
and last month's announcements by Bank of Hawaii and liberty House of
major layoffs. (First Hawaiian Bank announced layoffs earlier and plans to
shut down its Economics Division headed by Dr. Leroy Laney; Bankoh
followed suit closing its independent business research office which had
operated since 1949.)=20
The 60 proposals of the Governor's politicized Economic Revitalization
Task Force, are not doing well either. Some died in late February
(consolidation, streamlining, autonomy bills). Many are worthwhile,
including reduction in the nation's highest personal income tax rates, but
were overshadowed by the Task Force's insistence to also raise both the
Transient Accommodation ("hotel room") Tax while confiscating county TAT
revenues, and the regressive General Excise Tax (GET).=20
The original proposals called for a 34% increase--hurting small business,
service providers and those on commissions (such as Realtors) the most. It
did include a provision for partial reduction in pyramiding of the tax.=20
Subsequently, the Governor unilaterally reduced the tax increase to 4.75%
(17%) but excluded the pyramid reduction. Later, he changed position
again, calling for broadening the GET base by taxing non-profits,
hospitals, educational facilities and other exempt entities.=20
A broad community coalition, D.I.E.T (Defeat the Increased Excise Tax) is
successfully working to preserve tax cuts while opposing hikes.=20
Meanwhile, the 12-bill package submitted by the bipartisan Legislative
Small Business Coalition, is also nearly dead. "Small Business is My
Business" is the theme of the group, and while all 76 lawmakers were
encouraged to join and advance improvements to Hawaii's business climate,
the reception was lukewarm--in part because political pressures insisted
on focus on the ERTF package. Real movers of the Caucus were the four
co-chairs, Reps. David Stegmaier (D) and Gene Ward (R), Senators Norman
Sakamoto (D) and Sam Slom (R), along with Sen. Robert Bunda (D), Reps. Ed
Case (D) and Cynthia Thielen (R). Others gave lip service; still others
didn't even sign on.=20
Union advocates are busy as usual, making sure no privatizing,cuts in
government or their power takes place. A minimum wage increase to $6.50 an
hour PLUS COLA, was advanced by Sen. Brian Kanno. A bill to unionize all
contractors on all state projects through "Project Labor Agreements," was
advocated by Sen. Cal Kawamoto.=20
A new Constitutional Convention election this November during the General
Election is expected to win final approval. Initiaive, Referendum, Recall
and Term Limits are dead.=20
One bright spot may be advancement of the Small Business Regulatory Reform
Task Force Recommendations supported by SBH.=20
Just as in all sporting events, it is the final result -- not the halftime
score -- that is important. Small business must continue its efforts to
gain a start on an improved business climate by the end of Session; and
for change in the November 3 Election. SBH joins with KHVH Radio on
Friday, March 27 (6 - 9 am) for the "Hawaii Tea Party" at the Capitol. Be
there and make a statement to your lawmakers.=20
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=09Fed Up With the ERTF GET & TAT Increase Proposals?
=09Join the HAWAII TEA PARTY Tax Protest at the State Capitol
=09Rotunda on March 27. Sponsored by KHVH Real Radio 830.
=096 - 9 AM * Tell the Legislature and the Governor that you
=09don't want any tax increase! NO NEW TAXES! NO NEW TAXES!
=09Bring yourself, your friends, family and co-workers.
=09Make a Difference. Hawaii has been in tax hell for too long.
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>> SHARE N' TELL FORUM PROVIDES STRATEGIES TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS
The first quarterly Small Business Hawaii Share N' Tell Business Forum of
1998 will provide you with strategies to help you prepare to do more
business during the year.=20
SBH listened to member suggestions to start the Forums at a later time: 11
am. The SBH Share N' Tell will be Wednesday, March 18, at the Kahala
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. There will be
something for everyone who attends.=20
If you haven't attended lately, or are a new SBH member, this is an event
you won't want to miss. Bring an employee, friend or client. These forums
are a major member benefit.=20
Share N' Tell Member Forums combine networking, education, and a social
atmosphere to encourage you to do more business and help you cut existing
business costs.=20
Members, and their guests, may choose one of nine exciting and educational
Table Topics, led by a knowledgeable member-Facilitator, prior to the
luncheon program.=20
Topics and Facilitators for the March 18 Forum include:=20
"The Importance of Customer Service in a Declining Economy," Helen Rapoza,
Helen's Haven; "Avoiding Tax Surprises," Reg Baker, Reg Baker &
Company/Pendleton Tax; "The Longevity Game and Your EQ," Dick Rowland,
Rowland & Alameida; "Six Current Hot Marketing Tips for YOUR Business,"
Bob Sigall, Creative-1; "Free and Low Cost Employee Benefits," Stan
Jacobs, MONY; "Electronic Publishing," Paul Swengler, Law Book Store;
"Cash Flow Solutions for Small Business," Joey Macapiniac, Waikiki
Financial Group; "Innovative Ways to Decrease Your Indemnity and Costs In
Workers' Comp," Ivan Preis, Occusite, Inc., and "Motivating Your Sales
Staff For More Profit," Cindy Rasmussen, Professionals Worldwide.=20
The cost of the Share n' Tell Business Forum, which includes the entire
program, luncheon and parking, remains unchanged from last year: only $25
each for members and their guests. Advance, paid reservations are required
for this special rate and will be accepted as received on a first-come,
first-serve basis. (The cost is $30 at the door if space is available).=20
Call SBH at 396-1724 to get a reservation form or send in the copy
included with the print edition of SB NEWS. Remember, the new time is 11
am!=20
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>> COMMON CAUSE SEEKS CITIZEN INPUT
by Desmond Byrne
In the belief that the Hawaii State Legislature which decides on state
policy and laws and allocates public money belongs to the people, we
welcome your suggestions to improve the Legislature and it's processes.=20
Please fax your suggestions to 524-4499 (telephone 524-4488). These
suggestions will be treated in confidence.=20
We will pull together all the suggestions and ensure that the key
legislators are informed. We work for the long haul and have great
persistence.=20
Of course, you should also ensure that your particular senator and
representative and other legislators you know are made aware of your
views.=20
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>> SBA TAKING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is seeking applications from
private, non-profit organizations nationwide to participate in the
agency's Women's Business Center Program. The application period is
through March 26, 1998.=20
The SBA's Women's Business Center Program currently provides long-term
training and counseling for women entrepreneurs through a network of more
than 60 centers in 36 states. Each applicant must be able to provide
financial, technical, management, marketing and government
procurement/certification assistance to clients. Each applicant must also
submit a five year plan that describes proposed fund-raising, training and
technical assistance activities. Successful applicants may receive
financial assistance for a maximum of five years.=20
Special consideration will be given to non-profit organizations in states
and territories that have not yet been funded through SBA's Women's
Business Center Program. These states include: Arkansas, Connecticut,
Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,
Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington,
Wyoming, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The agency will award a
minimum of 3 women's business center cooperative agreements.=20
For more information or to obtain an application, contact the SBA's Office
of Women's Business Ownership, at (202) 200-6673, or locally at (808)=20
541-2990. For additional information on the Women's Business Center
Program, visit the agency's website at http://www.sba.gov/womeninbusiness.=
=20
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>> HOME DEPOT AND THE "FREE MARKET"
by David Lundquitst, Hardware Hawaii, and Bill Fiddler
Free market, right? Not so! For years government in Hawaii has tilted the
playing field in favor of big business through zoning, taxation, and other
favors. Although small business is the backbone of Hawaii's economy, we
have been dismissed, ignored and abused by local government because we
have not banded together as a political force to be reckoned with.=20
We need to respond with action when the call goes out whether it is one of
us, a group of us, or all of us that are threatened.=20
That is why the bigs left small business out of the economic task force.=20
But the solutions offered by big business and big government are as
nothing compared to the potential unleashed horsepower of the 66,000 small
businesses in the state of Hawaii if we force a level playing field and
respect from our government. The tide is turning.=20
The preferential treatment of Home Depot by the current city
administration is the latest example of small business. Frustration over
this has reached critical mass, igniting a firestorm directed at the
center of power at City Hall.=20
No longer willing to sit idly by while the daily papers report of business
closings each week, hundreds of small businesses who are threatened by
Home Depot are drawing a line in the sand at Manana Pearl City Junction.=20
Two or three Home Depots and a (strongly rumored) second Eagle Hardware
are planned on Oahu. Each of these five big boxes will displace from
locally owned business at least $41 million in sales for a total of $205
million, with a 25% annual sales growth required at each location by
corporate headquarters. Expect Home Depot's auxiliary subsidiaries,
Maintenance Warehouse and Home Expo as well. Home Depot will also likely
be a licensed contractor competing against local contractors.=20
Let's get a few things straight about the impact of this category killer,
which utilizes a calculated strategy of putting its competition out of
business:=20
Home Depot is the end of competition, not the beginning. The pie will
decrease, not increase. There will be a huge net job loss. A large number
of our locally owned small businesses will close. Many more will be
diminished. The secondary fallout will be huge as the damage done by Home
Depot will dwarf that done in other industries to date by category
killers. Small businesses' potent multiplier effect of recycled profits
and use of local service industries from advertising to wholesaling,
CPA's, insurance, fixtures, and equipment leasing (to name a few) will
disappear as the category killers (who use national services) whisk their
profits quickly out of our island economy.=20
What happens to our children's future after thousands of small businesses
are killed off and only a few multi-national companies remain? The
opportunity for the lower and middle classes to form small businesses is
central to the success and culture of the American Free Enterprise System.=
=20
The killing off of existing small business and barriers to small business
formation by the overwhelming force of big business aided and abetted by
government.=20
Your help is needed now! Write you Councilmember today. Submit written and
oral testimony. Contact me at 262-6700 or fax 261-4041 for detailed
factual information.=20
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>> SIGN UP FOR FASTTRAC=AE TRAINING SEMINAR
There is still time to sign up for the ultimate entrepreneurial training
program to learn what you can do now to improve the bottom line in your
small business. The nationally acclaimed, Premier FastTrac=AE, was created
by entrepreneurs who joined with leading business instructors from across
the country who are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed.=20
Over 16,000 entrepreneurs have graduated from FastTrac programs in more
than 30 states and Canada. Within one year after graduation, 10% to 25% of
FastTrac II graduates have more than doubled their sales; and 40%-55% of
FastTrac II graduates have more than doubled their sales within two years
of graduation.=20
In a business- education partnership, beginning Thursday, April 9, Small
Business Hawaii and Chaminade University of Honolulu will offer FastTrac
II to existing small businesses. The program will be conducted in 12
three-hour classes held each Thursday evening, beginning at 6:00 p.m.=20
The cost to the public is $499, but SBH members will be able to enroll for
$399. For more details, visit the SBH Entrepreneurial Education Foundation
web site, at www.fastrac.org, or call Jim Proctor, at 395-6221.=20
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>> MORE NEWS & FEATURES ARE AVAILABLE IN THE PRINTED AND ONLINE VERSIONS
OF SMALL BUSINESS NEWS. FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL SBH @ 396-1724.
Visit our website at http://hotspots.hawaii.com/sbh.html
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=09S M A L L B U S I N E S S V I E W S
=09By Sam Slom, President of Small Business Hawaii
In case you doubted SBH saying from the beginning the Economic
Revitalization Task Force(ERTF) was a thinly guised reelection ploy for
Governor Cayetano, the Guv's unilateral changing of the "inflexible"=20
package of ERTF recommendations--not once but twice--should remove all
doubt. He pulled the carpet out from under the big business dupes who
believed tax increases while protecting the public union stranglehold on
government could make a difference. There's no "plan;" the campaign
committee just samples the level of public anger and comes up with a new
recommendation du jour. Desperation, not reason, rules. Fool me once,
shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.=20
Does anybody get it? The Governor, Speaker Joe Souki and Senate President
Norman Mizuguchi journeyed to San Fran last month to convince two major
bond rating services--Moody's and Standard & Poors's--that the ERTF
proposals were bold and would do the job. The bond analysts were
unimpressed and said so. "Show us," they said. The Governor, in his
oft-repeated statement (previously to Forbes, WSJ, Financial World,
Investors' Business Daily, US News,) said, "they don't get it." What'll it
take for him to get it?=20
Gambling and cockfighting bills have re-emerged at the Legislature. The
most imaginative bill would require game cocks to wear miniature boxing
gloves on their talons. This sounds like a great economic jumpstart and a
terrific new manufacturing industry for Hawaii. A real small business.
(Get real!)=20
Small business can take a lesson from the public librarians who showed
their guts and determination for more than a year standing up for what
they believed, even at the risk of their jobs. It paid off last month. The
Board of Education was forced to fire their boss, State Librarian Bart
Kane, (by a vote of 7-6). However, don't cry for Kane; the Governor
already said he can find a place for him in his vast employment agency,
thus increasing the size of the office even more.=20
Department of Education chief, Herman Aizawa, quit before he got a BOE
vote of non-confidence. He can now become a school principal and earn as
much as previously without the responsibilities. Rumors abound that State
Senator Mike McCartney could be named new education Chief since he
announced he will not seek reelection this November. He worked for former
DOE head Charles Toguchi, the Governor's top aide.=20
The Shell-Texaco divestiture being forced in Hawaii by the state Attorney
General Deputy Ted Clause (no relation to Santa) is unique; all other 49
states had no problem with the major marketing merger agreement. The FTC
has been asked to intercede in behalf of the local retail gasoline dealers
who would be adversely affected by the inappropriate action of the AG.=20
Have you seen how often anti-change groups here use "Draconian" to
describe any action that would change the status quo?=20
How could the new $1.2 million UH Wahine Softball Stadium be constructed
so that 90% of the fans couldn't see home plate? State no-bid contracts
are the answer. The same architects, contractors and DAGS team that keeps
our state incumbents humming keeps us from seeing the ball. They keep
stealing home.=20
Don't give up! Come down to YOUR State Capitol; there's still time to make
a difference. The "Hawaii Tea Party" is March 27, 6-9 am.=20
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For information about Small Business Hawaii call: (808) 396-1724.
Small Business Hawaii Hawaii Kai Corporate Plaza 6600 Kalanianaole Hwy.,
Suite 212 Honolulu, HI 96825 Telephone 808-396-1724 Fax 808-396-1726
E-mail: mac...@lava.net World Wide Web at:
http://www.hotspots.hawaii.com./SBH.html
Editor and Publisher: Samuel M. Slom (sen...@capitol.hawaii.gov)
Internet Edition by: Melvin Ah Ching (mac...@lava.net)
ISSN #0279-8395
Copyright 1998. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or redistributed without permission from the publishers.